For years I've been dodging the top coat on nails because I'm lazy but actually it's time to admit that they really do make a difference to the longevity, and the appearance of a nail polish. Let's face it we all want our polish to last for days and shine so much that we can see our reflection in them - right?
In addition, a good top coat will contain all sorts of ingredients to strengthen nails and protect them from splitting, you only have to check out the Sally Hansen aisle to see that there are a lot to choose from and they all do different things.
In addition, a good top coat will contain all sorts of ingredients to strengthen nails and protect them from splitting, you only have to check out the Sally Hansen aisle to see that there are a lot to choose from and they all do different things.
Today I've chosen three of my favourites to share, predominantly for shine but I find that they all leave my nails feeling stronger as well.
O.P.I RapiDry
First up is RapiDry, cool name huh? What's great about this is that not only does it give a lovely shiny top coat to your nails, it's also very quick to dry (hence the name). It also means you don't have to sit with your fingers outstretched for ages not touching them or doing that flicky thing we do to 'air dry' them! Anything from O.P.I. is going to be good though, as they are a really good brand and used most places I've been for a manicure? I would definitely buy this again though I can't remember how much it is I guess it's in line with most of the O.P.I. range.
Avon Gel Shine
The Avon Gel Shine top coat is part of their Gel Shine range (although this is called Mark now having been re-branded in 2017). The purpose of the top coat is to give the gel polishes that extra bit of shine and I can say that it really does!
The gel polishes by themselves seem to be hard wearing, giving a great shine without the top coat but it's worth popping a bit of top coat over it to give them that extra pazzazz and also it helps with the longevity. They last several days with no chips at all but there's no problem taking it off with ordinary nail polish remover. It's very reasonably priced as well and is very often on offer in the brochure and online. It obviously works beautifully on the Avon Gel Shine polishes but I've used it on others and it does a great job. So all in all a super product for a very reasonable price of about £7.00.
The gel polishes by themselves seem to be hard wearing, giving a great shine without the top coat but it's worth popping a bit of top coat over it to give them that extra pazzazz and also it helps with the longevity. They last several days with no chips at all but there's no problem taking it off with ordinary nail polish remover. It's very reasonably priced as well and is very often on offer in the brochure and online. It obviously works beautifully on the Avon Gel Shine polishes but I've used it on others and it does a great job. So all in all a super product for a very reasonable price of about £7.00.
Revlon ColorStay Gel Envy Diamond Top Coat
I got this as part of my Glossybox subscription last year. The Revlon ColorStay Gel Envy has got an unusual brush whereby the bristles are quite thin and are arranged so that the liquid covers the edges of your nail then you brush inwards, thus covering the entire nail. Whilst this polish is designed to go on top of the ColorStay Gel polishes it does work well on other brands too.
